Six brewers battle it out in Iron Brewer Triple Header

Yesterday the Beveridge Place Pub (blog sponsor) hosted the Iron Brewer Triple Header, an event challenging six local breweries to put their skills to the test. Personally, this was one of the most anticipated events of Seattle Beer Week. Not just because Iron Brewer is such a great concept, but because of the players involved. Black Raven faced off against Big Al Brewing in the championship match, Fremont Brewing clashed with Two Beers Brewing in the second match, and Elliott Bay Brewing battled Georgetown Brewing in the final match.

I knew that things would get kind of stupid at this event. And I mean that in the best possible way. When you have a championship matchup between Black Raven Brewing (defending champ) and Big Al Brewing, it is not not going to be quiet. In fact, things are sure to get silly. If breweries won medals for personality and general funmanship, both Black Raven and Big Al would be clad in platinum.

Master Al and his enthusiastic sidekick Micah.

Lead by Master Alejandro (Big Al), the Big Al Brewing team showed up in costume. About halfway through the event, Black Raven pulled out an ironing board and began “flattening the competition.” They ironed T-shirts from the breweries they defeated in previous Iron Brewer competitions.

Nigel ironing a Big Al shirt (flattening the competition), much to Micah's displeasure.

The Joint was Jumpin’

The event started at 5:00 p.m. when the Beveridge Place Pub started serving the Iron Brewer tasting trays. Quite literally, the line for taster trays stretched out the front door when the event kicked off. For most of the evening people stood at least 10-deep or 12-deep waiting to get to the bar. With usual deference and skill, the Beveridge Place staff effectively managed the crushing mass of humanity.

From the back of the beer line, the bar seemed miles away (it moved quickly).

In case you’re new to the concept, Iron Brewers works like this: The Beveridge Place picks two “special ingredients,” the brewers make beers that feature those ingredients, and then the crowd votes (blindly) for the beer that they think deserves the title. The only reward is the much-coveted title Iron Brewer itself and, ultimately, the title Iron Brewer Champion.

For this event, all of the ingredients reflected a Japanese theme. The Beveridge Place Pub donated proceeds from the event to Japanese tsunami relief.

And the Winner is…

The championship match featured sesame and plum, the second featured cedar and cucumber, and the third featured wasabi and Satsuma orange. The beers were all over the map. Some opted for a heavy-handed treatment of the secret ingredients, others were more subtle.

Big Al Brewing put up a fight, so to speak, but in the end Black Raven retained the title of Iron Brewer Champion. Other victors included Fremont Brewing and Elliott Bay Brewing, which will now face off in an upcoming battle. Eventually, the winner will challenge Black Raven for the championship.

No word yet on when we can expect the next round of match ups. We’ll keep you posted.

It was also Reid Spencer's birthday (brewer at Georgetown Brewing). He brought his own crowd. He's in the white T-shirt.

Much discussion about the beers. Many new faces from far and wide at the Bev yesterday.